THE histryf cuntries usually begins-and als ends-with war. The first great happening in the histryf Greece was a war. It was called the Trjan War and was suppsed t have taken place abut twelve hundred years befre Christ，r nt lng after the beginningf the Irn Age. But we are ntnly unsuref the date； we are nt even sure that there ever was such a war， fr a great dealf it， we knw is simply fairy tale. This is the way the tale ges.
nce there was a wedding feastf the gds and gddessesn Muntlympus， when suddenly a gddess wh had nt been invited threw a glden applen the table.n the apple were written these wrds：
T THE FAIREST.
The gddess wh had thrwn the apple was the gddessf quarreling； and true t her name she did start a quarrel， fr eachf the gddesses， like vain human beings， thught she was the fairest and shuld have the apple. At last they called in a shepherd by named Paris t decide wh was the fairest.
Each gddessffered Paris a present if he wuld chse her. Hera， the queenf the gds，ffered t make him a king； Athena， the gddessf wisdm，ffered t make him wise； but Aphrdite， the gddessf beauty，ffered t give him the mst beautiful girl in the wrld fr his wife.
Nw， Paris was nt really a shepherd by but the snf Priam， the kingf Try， which was a cityn the seashreppsite Greece. When he was a baby， Paris had been leftn a muntain t die， but he had been fund by a shepherd and was brught up by him as hiswn child.
Paris didn"t care abut being wise； he didn"t care abut being king； what he did want was t have the mst beautiful wman in the wrld fr his wife， and s he gave the apple t Aphrdite.
Nw the mst beautiful wman in the wrld was named Helen， and she was already married t Menelaus， the kingf Sparta. In spitef that fact， Aphrdite tld Paris t g t Sparta in Greece， where he wuld find Helen， and then run away with her. S Paris went t Sparta t visit King Menelaus and was ryallyentertained by him. And then Paris， althugh he had been treated s kindly and had been trusted，ne night stle Helen away and carried herff acrss the sea t Try.
Menelaus and the Greeks were naturally very angry and immediately prepared fr war and sailedff fr Try t get Helen back. Nw， in ancient times all cities had walls built arund them t prtect them frm the enemy. As there were n cannns nr guns nr deadly weapns such as are used in war nwadays， it was very hard t get int a walled cityr capture it. Try was prtected in this way by walls； and thugh the Greeks tried fr ten years t capture it， at the endf the ten years Try was still uncnquered.
At last the Greeks decided t try a trick t get int the city. They built a huge hrsef wd， and inside this wden hrse they put sldiers. They placed the hrse in frntf the city walls and then sailed away as if at last they were giving up the war. The Trjans were tld by a spy that the hrse was a giftf the gds and that theyught t take it int the city. A Trjan priest named Lacn， hwever， tld his peple nt t have anything t d with the hrse， fr he suspected a trick. But peple seldm take advice when tld nt t d what they want t d.
Just then sme huge snakes cameutf the sea and attacked Lacn and his tw sns and， twining arund them， strangled them t death. The Trjans thught this was a sign frm the gds，r anmen as they wuld have said， that they shuld nt believe Lacn； s they determined t take the hrse int the city against his advice. The hrse was s big， hwever， that it wuld nt g thrugh the gates， and inrder t get it inside the walls they had t tear dwn partf the wall itself. When night fell， the Greek sldiers cameutf the hrse andpened the gatesf the city. Thether Greeks， wh had been waiting justutf sight， returned and entered thrugh the gates and the hle the Trjans had made in the wall. Try was easily cnquered then， and the city was burned t the grund， and Helen"s husband carried her back t Greece. Becausef this hrse trick， we still have a saying， "Bewaref the Greeks bearing gifts，" which is as much as t say， "Lkut fr an enemy wh makes yu a present."The stryf the Trjan War was tld in tw lng pems. Sme peple think they are the finest pems that were ever written.nef these pems is called the Iliad， frm the namef the cityf Try， which was als knwn as Ilium. The Iliad describes the Trjan War itself. Thether pem is called thedyssey and describes the adventuresfnef the Greek heresn his way hme after the war wasver. The Greek her"s name wasdysseus， which gives the namedyssey t the bk， but he was als called Ulysses. These pems， the Iliad and thedyssey， were cmpsed by a Greek pet named Hmer， wh is suppsedt have lived at sme time befre 700 B.C.
Hmer may have been a bard； that is， a singing pet wh went abut frm place t place and sang his sngs t the peple. He prbably cllectedld legends and made his pems frm them. Usually a bard playedn a lyre as he sang， and the peple gave him smething t eatr a place t sleep t pay him fr his sngs.
Peple enjyed hearing Hmer"s sngs. They learned them by heart， and mthers taught them t their children after Hmer had died. The pems are written dwn in Greek， and yu may sme day read them in Greek， if yu study that language，r at least in an English translatin.
I have tld yu that Hmer prbably made his sngsutfld legends. There were many legends， t， abut Hmer himself， and we dn"t knw which are true. He was said t have been blind. Seven different cities each prudly claimed that Hmer had been brn in their city， s yu can cunt sixr seven legends right there！
【中文阅读】
国家的历史通常以战争开始，也以战争结束。发生在希腊历史上的第一件大事 就是一场战争。这场战争叫做特洛伊战争，据推测这场战争发生在公元前 1200 年左 右，铁器时代开始后不久。可是，我们不仅无法确知战争的时间，连是否真的发生 过这场战争也不能确定，因为，这场战争的很多事情，我们只是从神话故事里知道 的。这个故事是这样的：
有一次，奥林匹斯山上正在举行婚筵，众神都在座，忽然一位没有被邀请的女 神，把一只金苹果扔在桌上。金苹果上写着这样几个字：
给天下最美的女神
扔下这只苹果的是纷争女神；恰如其名，她真的引起了一场纷争，因为每一位 女神都和人类一样有虚荣心，认为自己是天下最美的，应该得到那只苹果。最后， 她们叫来一个叫帕里斯的牧童，让他判定谁是最美的。
每一个女神都向帕里斯许诺，如果他挑中自己，就会给他一件礼物。天后赫拉， 众神之母，许诺让他成为一个国王；雅典娜，智慧女神，许诺让他成为智者；而阿 芙洛狄忒，美丽女神，许诺让世界上最美的女人做他的妻子。
帕里斯事实上并不是个牧童，而是特洛伊城国王普里阿摩斯的儿子，特洛伊就 在希腊对面的海岸上。帕里斯还是婴儿的时候就被丢弃在一座山上，不管其死活， 但是被一个牧羊人发现了，牧羊人把他带回家，就当做自己的孩子抚养长大。
帕里斯对成为智者不感兴趣；他也不想做国王；他一心想要的就是个世界上最 美的女人做他的妻子，于是他就把苹果给了阿芙洛狄忒。
当时，世界上最美的女人名叫海伦，她已经嫁给了斯巴达国王梅内莱厄斯。尽 管如此，阿芙洛狄忒还是吩咐帕里斯去希腊的斯巴达，在那里他可以找到海伦，然 后带着她私奔。于是，帕里斯就去斯巴达拜见了国王梅内莱厄斯，国王以皇家规格 热情招待了他。虽然帕里斯受到如此盛情的款待，还获得了国王的信任，可是一天 夜里，他还是偷偷带走了海伦，和她一起坐船回到了特洛伊。
梅内莱厄斯和所有希腊人当然无比愤怒，立即准备好战争，坐船向特洛伊进军 去夺回海伦。古代，所有的城市都有城墙围绕，以防御外敌。那时没有枪炮，也没 有现代战争中常用的各种致命武器，所以，攻陷或占领一座有城墙的城市是很难的。 特洛伊城就有坚不可摧的城墙保护自己，希腊人打了十年的仗想要攻占它，但是十 年过去了，特洛伊仍然没有失守。
最后，希腊人决定耍个诡计进入该城。他们造了一个巨大的木马，在木马里面 藏了很多士兵。他们将木马丢弃在特洛伊城墙外，然后乘船离开，好像他们最终放 弃了这场战争。希腊人安排的奸细告诉特洛伊人木马是神的礼物，他们应该把它弄 进城里。但是，特洛伊的一个祭司，名叫拉奥孔，告诫大家千万不要动这个木马， 因为他怀疑这是个奸计。但是，特洛伊人很想做什么事的时候，很少能听进别人的 劝阻。
就在那时，几条巨蟒从海里冒出来，冲向拉奥孔和他两个儿子，一下缠住他们 的身子，把他们活活勒死了。特洛伊人认为这是神的警示，或者用他们的话说这是 个预兆，告诫他们不要相信拉奥孔的话；于是，他们决定不听拉奥孔的规劝把木马 弄进城。但是，木马太大了，从城门根本进不去。为了把它弄进城，他们不得不拆 掉一部分城墙。夜色降临了，希腊士兵钻出木马，打开了城门。一直等候在外、隐 藏着的希腊士兵立即返回，穿过城门和特洛伊人拆除的城墙上的洞进入城内。特洛 伊被一举征服了，整座城也被焚为平地，海伦被丈夫接回了希腊。因为这个木马诡 计，我们现在还有句谚语"提防带着礼物的希腊人"，意思相当于"要警惕送礼的 敌人"。
特洛伊战争的故事被写成两首很长的叙事诗。有人认为这两首诗是迄今为止最 优美的诗篇。其中一首诗叫做《伊利亚特》，诗名取自特洛伊城的另一个名字-- 伊利昂。《伊利亚特》描述的就是特洛伊战争。另一首诗叫《奥德赛》，描述的是一 位希腊英雄在战争结束后回家途中的冒险经历。这个希腊英雄名叫奥德修斯，诗的 标题就是取自他的名字，但他还有个名字叫尤利西斯。这两部史诗《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》，是由一位名叫荷马的希腊诗人创作的，据推测他生活在公元前 700 年以 前的某个时期。
荷马可能是个吟游诗人。所谓吟游诗人就是到处流浪吟唱诗歌的诗人。他可能 收集了一些古老的传说，并据此创作了这两部史诗。吟游诗人通常在唱歌时用一种 叫里拉的弦乐器伴奏，听的人会向他提供暂时的食宿作为回报。
人们喜欢听荷马唱的诗歌，逐渐记住了他唱的内容，荷马死后，就由妈妈们把这些诗歌传给了下一代。这些诗是用希腊语记载成书的，如果你学希腊语，就有机 会读到它们，或者最起码可以看看英译本。
我刚才说了，荷马很可能是根据古老传说创作了自己的诗歌。而关于荷马本人 也有很多传说，我们分不清哪些是真的。据说他是个盲人。有七个城市都各自骄傲 地宣称荷马诞生在他们那儿，你算算吧，那就会有六七种不同的传说了！
公元前 1200 年